Carcharhinus signatus
Night Shark
Collection Details
Event Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Chondrichthyes (Cartilaginous Fishes)
Carcharhiniformes (Ground Sharks)
Carcharhinidae (Requiem Sharks)
Carcharhinus
Carcharhinus signatus (Night Shark)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Slender body, long slender snout, large green eyes with irregular pupils, moderately high caudal fin with well-developed ventral lobe. Preoral snout length 1.7 to 1.9 times internasal width. Anterior nasal flap moderately developed. Upper labial furrows short and inconspicuous. 15 tooth rows on each side of upper and lower jaws. Teeth in anterolateral section of upper jaw with narrow, smooth to irregularly serrated, and oblique cusps. Gill slits relatively short; longest (third) is 2.5% of TL, and less than one-third first dorsal fin base. Pectoral fin and first dorsal fin taper distally. Origin of first dorsal fin above free tip of pectoral fin. Second dorsal fin less than one-half height of first dorsal fin, and origin above or slightly posterior to origin of anal fin. Ridge between dorsal fin bases. Caudal peduncle lacks keel.
Grayish blue with scattered black spots dorsally and grayish white ventrally.
Distribution
Delaware to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas, and Cuba
Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Tropical to warm temperate Atlantic, near edge of continental and insular shelves at depths of 100 to 600 m
Biology
Squids and epipelagic bony fishes
Maximum known size is 280 cm TL
Viviparous with a yolk sac placenta. Litters range from 4 to 12 young. Young are 60 cm TL at birth.
Coastal and semi-oceanic species found on or along outer continental and insular shelves (Ref. 244). Found to depths of 40 m (Ref. 26938). Forms schools (Ref. 244). Nocturnal (Ref. 5578), and feeding mainly on small bony fishes and squid (Ref. 244). Viviparous (Ref. 50449). Off West Africa, recorded water parameters at 90 to 285 m, where it was caught includes: temperature = 11 to 16°C; salinity = 36 ppt; oxygen = 1.81 ml/l (Ref. 244). Not known to be dangerous to people (Ref. 244).
IUCN Red List Status: Endangered (EN), assessed 2019-06-21. Resilience: Very low (tm=8-10; Fec=4; Tmax=17; K=0.12).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from other species of the family by the combination of characters described
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial; gamefish.
References
Bigelow and Schroeder 1948a
Springer and Thompson 1957
Applegate et al. 1979
Raschi et al. 1982
Castro 1983
Branstetter 1984
Compagno 1984
Branstetter and McEachran 1986b
C. R. Robins et al. 1986
Bonfil et al. 1990
Breder, C.M. and D.E. Rosen (1966) Modes of reproduction in fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey. 941 p.
Compagno, L.J.V. (1984) FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 4. Sharks of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date. Part 2 - Carcharhiniformes. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(4/2):251-655. Rome: FAO.
Compagno, L.J.V., D.A. Ebert and M.J. Smale (1989) Guide to the sharks and rays of southern Africa. New Holland (Publ.) Ltd., London. 158 p.
Smith, C.L. (1997) National Audubon Society field guide to tropical marine fishes of the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, the Bahamas, and Bermuda. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York. 720 p.
Bowman, R.E., C.E. Stillwell, W.L. Michaels and M.D. Grosslein (2000) Food of northwest Atlantic fishes and two common species of squid. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-NE 155, 138 p.
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